Our press review features the latest publications by UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance. Output for June includes five working papers, five PhD theses, two articles and one book chapter. We cover rare earths in low carbon technologies, leadership changes in the regional jet industry, and refugee return and remittances in Burundi, among many others. [NB: the images above lead to related papers.] Working Papers ‘An introduction to the economics of rare earths’ aims to examine the supply risk o...

Ninety-three fresh graduates, representing about 40 nationalities, gathered with their friends and family at St. Janskerk in Maastricht for the closing ceremony of our Master’s programme in Public Policy and Human Development on 3 June 2014. Together they looked back on an intensive year of learning and personal development and celebrated the beginning of “a new adventure,”  as MPP Programme Director Lutz Krebs put it in his congratulatory speech. “You are going out there...

Navneet Bhargava is one of the 93 students who will receive our double Master’s degree in Public Policy and Human Development, issued jointly by Maastricht University and United Nations University. Navneet’s testimonial about her study year in Maastricht was a highlight of the closing ceremony of the MPP Class of 2013-2014 on 3 June 2014. Dear fellow graduates, family and faculty, I am extremely happy to be up here to share a student’s perspective in front of all of you. This is even...

Our press review features the latest publications by and on UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance. Output for May includes 12 working papers, six articles, three reports, two books and one policy brief. We cover organic photovoltaics across three continents, innovation in India, investment in Africa, and migrant integration in eight cities around the world, among many others. NB: the images above lead to related papers. ‘Nanotechnology and Development: What’s in it for Emerging Coun...

Local governments are key points of contact for refugees and migrants — especially when they are faced with deportation. For the launch of The Hague Process report on Migrant and Refugee Integration in Cities, 21 May 2014, this blog looks at a new campaign for a fairer children’s amnesty. Discontent is stirring once again in the Netherlands because of the kinderpardon, or children’s amnesty, scheme. The long-term residency scheme for children was lauded in 2012 as a shining example o...

Have the Millennium Development Goals created an effective global accountability framework? What is Global Social Governance? What could it or should it become post-2015? Focusing on Brazil, Ghana and South Africa, this paper discusses the historical emergence of the MDGs, leading to questions of ownership and responsibilities of both developing and developed countries. The authors ask if the MDGs fully reflect development concepts and how far they have impacted on national policies, and ultimat...

Democrats in the US have been calling President Obama’s recourse to Executive Orders for pushing a key social policy change (minimum wage rise) a case of "leading by example". It so happens that across the Atlantic, leading by example comes packaged as a well-worn policy tool rather specialized for a fiddly problem in a very different policy area, namely the environment....

International conference: “Future perspectives on innovation and governance in development” Since 1988, UNU-MERIT and its predecessors have addressed the topics of technological change, innovation and economic development. More recently, with the inclusion of the School of Governance, this perspective has widened to include both governance and institutions. In 2014, it will be 25 years since the launch of UNU-INTECH, one of the predecessors of UNU-MERIT, 26 years since the establishment of the M...

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Khalid Koser has been appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) “for his services to refugees and asylum seekers in the UK”. The appointment was announced as a part of the British Queen’s New Year Honours List for 2014. The Order of the British Empire recognizes distinguished service to the arts and sciences, public services outside the Civil Service and work with charitable and welfare organisations of all kinds. Koser is the Deputy Dire...

The latest PhD defence from our part-time GPAC² programme looked at ‘Mozambique Governance Assessments in the Context of Aid Effectiveness Discourse’. Laura Torvinen, who previously worked for UNDP and is now a senior advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Finland, defended successfully on 21 November 2013. Her thesis asked how quality of governance may be linked to aid effectiveness, what basic issues are missed by donor assessments, and how non-state actors can be integrated in both pol...